Built around 1858-9, Broughton Hall was designed by the architect Walter Scott for the merchant Gustavus C Schwabe. It was over a game of billiards here that Schwabe suggested to Thomas Henry Ismay the idea of a new transatlantic steamship line, with vessels supplied by Harland and Wolff of Belfast. Schwabe, who was Wolff's uncle, promised to invest in it, and the result was the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company.
By the time this photograph was taken Broughton was occupied by Alfred M Turner, an East India merchant. It is presumably Turner's three children - Horace, Edith and Alfred - playing on the lawn with their mother or nurse.